Thursday, May 28, 2009

Today there was a story from here in New Zealand that I just had to mention, funny how things closer to home can seem to affect you more - wrongly or rightly I am as prone to that as anyone else. I mourn this tiger and I remind myself that the pig slaughtered in Egypt from swine flu paranoia or the chicken gassed in Canada by KFC or the "free range" hen in Austria being slaughtered at the end of her short tortured life or the rat in the lab in Kentucky or the sable in the fur farm in Russia or the sheep in the slaughterhouse here in New Zealand and all of the millions and millions of equally innocent victims that also died today, in all parts of all places all over the world, and are dying right now by the million are all just as valid as this tiger, who was killed today. I am not trivializing the death of the zookeeper who was fatally injured, but it is certain the loss of his life is receiving plenty of respect and mourners and I am sure they are paying homage to him as we speak. Well, I am paying homage to this tiger and his fellow animals, because I know that not enough people are thinking about them or talking about them, and they need our voices.

Here is the video about Post Traumatic Stress in animals, specifically elephants, which mentions the tragic death of a volunteer at a sanctuary and how the caretaker and elephant involved coped with the tragedy. They didn't kill the elephant - because these people get it. Although of course I don't know if they are vegan. I would love to talk to them about veganism - I think we would have a good chance getting through to people like them. And who knows - they may be vegan?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

This is a big subject, and I realize there are so many more things I could say than I said, and so many more reasons I could add to the ones I gave, but I hope I at least got it across why I feel the way I do about this issue and why I personally agree that we should not have companion animals or pets anymore than we should have food animals, clothing animals or animals for entertainment or scientific research.
Firstly this is the link to the video from Hurricane Katrina of which I extracted the audio clip that appears in the podcast.

Please access the following links if you are interested in the words that made me think about this issue of companion animals and agree that the possession of companion animals is not morally justifiable and therefore not right. I hope you read it because it is very well written! I hope it makes as much sense to you as it does to me. This whole article is great, the chapter on pets in regard to this specific topic is question number 3.

The following is a link to a link to a debate in which the arguments presented by Professor Francione make utter and complete logical sense to me, and if they don't make sense to someone else who reads them, then there is no way that this podcast episode will :-)

I would say that the arguments presented in the above debate are the best ones to read if you want to know how you really feel about the issue. I cannot see anyone who successfully refutes Professor Francione's statements, I just see the utter sense, logic and reason in the philosophy. However I am very aware that not everyone agrees, although I have never seen, read or heard anything by someone who doesn't agree that has convinced me otherwise.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

We talk about how easy it is to go vegan and the kinds of questions and opposition that are encountered daily in the life of a vegan and we discuss ideas about how to deal with them. I hope that everyone enjoyed listening and please let us know if you have had a similar experience to that of William's. We would love to hear your story and try to help you in any way we can.
Thank you to William Paul for coming on the show, and for sharing your story.

Part one of the interview with William Paul, a student at Selwyn College in Auckland, New Zealand, in which he relates the events that occurred the day he informed the school he was an ethical vegan and therefore would not be wearing the footwear dictated by the mandatory school uniform policy. This is a very important issue and I hope William's story inspires other young people not only to go vegan and to stay vegan, but also to demand the respect their decision is entitled to, to teach them how to represent themselves properly in order to be taken seriously by those who have authority over their lives, and to inspire the educational institutions these young people attend to give a student's decision to go vegan the respect and consideration it truly deserves, which is as much respect and consideration as is given to religious students to allow them to be true to their beliefs. We need awareness that veganism is a serious, ethical decision, and has a right to be respected. We need to get through to them, and I think William's is a good example to show how important that is. I hope he is part of the beginning of a new awareness in schools, and this is a great opportunity to capitalize on his unwavering strength in the face of overwhelming opposition. We need to work with the schools, I want their understanding and support, so I am trying to create a positive environment for discussion. I want to help any future students who may face the same reaction, and the more it happens, the more proof we will have that it is an issue that needs to be addressed, with mutual respect and understanding. Also, as a bonus, it creates awareness about veganism and that is always a good thing.
William also talks about his methods of educating the other students about veganism, his views on how young children are influenced, and generally shares his own passionate and well informed views about why veganism is the way to go. He is a very inspiring person and I hope you enjoy the interview.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Just want to say I was never trying to hide my identity! I am proud of who I am. I just thought my nickname was unusual and unique and would draw attention, and there are so many Elizabeth Collins out there. I am NOT the Elizabeth Collins that writes/wrote articles for PETA!!!
Anyway, my friends from New York have been calling me Knuckles for as long as I can remember, it is my nickname, but everyone knows my real name because that is how it is shown on Gary Francione's site for example - it was never about hiding my name. But if I ever deal with someone who is looking for a reason to judge or make snap decisions, using my nickname may work against me, and well, you never know. So there you go. You can still call me Knuckles if you like! I don't care either way. But officially, podcast-wise, I'm dropping the moniker.
And I put a photo (another great suggestion from Doug) - it was taken by me on my camera phone in NYC in very early November 2007, only a couple of weeks after I saw Earthlings and went vegan. I had just that minute returned from being away at a wedding that I had promised to go to, and it was a great wedding of two of my closest friends and was beautiful, but in order to attend I had to leave my baby to go to Vegas for three days. This photo was taken minutes after we were reunited, and you can see the relief in her little face. I came back! Can you imagine what it is like for them when we leave them like that? I hope to never have to do it to her again.
Thanks to Doug Hines.
http://www.eatraworganicsunshine.com/why_no_meat_.html

Monday, May 4, 2009

Hi
I made an embarrassing mistake in my last episode. Please accept my apologies to Dan Cudahy and Roger Yates for messing up. Roger's website is On Human-Nonhuman Relations:
http://human-nonhuman.blogspot.com/

and Dan's website is called Unpopular Vegan Essays:
http://unpopularveganessays.blogspot.com/

I am so sorry for making that mistake. Please check out these great blogs. Forgive me Dan and Roger.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

This week I talk about my personal experiences trying to work and earn a living as a vegan in a non-vegan world. I also talk about an interesting reaction I had (the way I reacted not the other people) upon being given my very first opportunity ever to address a group of relative strangers about veganism.
I also talk about Colleen Patrick-Goudreau with whom many people are already very familiar. So far I have not done any more than go to the iTunes Store and read a few of the 255 reviews, and listen to a couple of minutes of a show, all of which I just did now actually (although I am now of course a subscriber and will be listening to every single episode!). Even without listening any further and just by reading the reviews I know that this is someone I can learn from. I can't wait to hear all the podcasts. I have put a link in the link section to her podcast Food for Thought:http://www.compassionatecooks.com/podcast.htm
and I also recommend going to the iTunes Store and reading some of the reviews. This is further proof of the effectiveness of peaceful vegan activism. I am grateful to those people who informed me about Colleen's podcast, it is very inspiring, re-affirming and empowering to see such effective vegan activism. I haven't had a real chance to listen yet - I am going off of what I have been told, and the incredible comments left by people about the podcast on the iTunes Store. I look forward to learning from and being inspired by such effective vegan activism.